CALL TO ORDER:Chairman Shawn Ward called the meeting to
order at 8:00 PM.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS
MEETING (1/6/04, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION (EDC)-RELATED ONLY):Mr.
Sensibaugh moved to approve the EDC-related minutes from the 1/6/04 meeting
with one change: In the 4th paragraph, Mr. Ward’s 5th
point should read “Could proportioned limitations on certain uses…”.The motion was seconded by Mr. Fidler and
passed unanimously.

TRAFFIC ENGINEER’S
REPORT:Mr. Wursta distributed new
and revised data on current and projected trip generation in the Newtown
Business Commons (NBC).He compared
data in three scenarios:100% General
Office Use buildout, 100% Medical-Dental Use buildout, and a mix of the two
uses.He also provided data on existing
and projected peak hour traffic volumes at several intersections in the NBC
area, as well as the projected benefits of proposed road improvements on these
traffic patterns.

Mr. Wursta stated that his analysis indicates that some of
the road improvements he discussed at previous meetings will be needed within
five years simply due to increased regional traffic as well as nominal
development within the NBC.If the NBC
buildout is increased by more than 20%, additional major road improvements will
be necessary within approximately five years.Even without the zoning changes, these improvements will be eventually
be necessary.

Mr. Wursta estimated the cost of all these improvements to
be close to $2 million.He recommended
that the Township revise its Capital Improvement Plan to include these
improvements, as well as the improvements proposed in the Newtown-Yardley Road
Corridor project submitted for the TIP in 2003.

Mr. Sensibaugh asked if the need for the major improvements
would be triggered if the 50% impervious surface limit was not changed to 65%;
Mr. Wursta said the improvements would still be needed.

Mr. Wursta said that the primary source of funds for these
improvements would be traffic impact fees from development of the NBC, and that
income from these fees would be higher if the recommended zoning changes are
implemented.He suggested that the fee
amount, currently $1,247 per peak hour trip, should stay about the same.He thought there is a good possibility of
obtaining PennDOT funds for a portion of this work, although the process will
take at least eight years.

Mr. Walker commented that traffic impact fees for NBC
projects that have been submitted to the Township would total about
$150,000.The Township might receive
additional fees from the nearby Newtown Corporate Center project if they are
not able to build their proposed bridge.Mr. Lombardi said there also are some existing funds in the Traffic
Impact Fund.Overall, approximately $1
million in traffic impact fees are projected to be generated in the NBC area.

Doug Terry, a representative from the EDC and a property
owner in the NBC, said it would take at least ten years for full buildout to
occur in the NBC

ADAPTIVE RE-USE OF
EXISTING VACANT BUILDINGS:Mr. Ward
asked how the changes proposed by the EDC would affect current vacancies.Mr. Lombardi noted that about 398,000 SF of
manufacturing space, and some office space, is currently vacant.Mr. Terry said some large buildings just
came onto the market, and the total amount of vacant space is now about 500,000
SF.

Mr. Sensibaugh asked what could be done to the buildings to
make them reusable.Mr. Terry said most
buildings need to have windows installed for office use, which is major, costly
work, or they could be scrapped and rebuilt.Mr. Dieterle said a conversion to office use would also require more
parking, which would justify the increase in the impervious surface.Mr. Lombardi suggested the possibility of an
overlay zone for existing buildings, in which impervious surface limits would
be raised and smaller parking stalls would be allowed.

Mr. Ward said that Newtown-Yardley Road is a gateway into
Newtown, and he is concerned that some green space remain along the road.Mr. Fidler suggested that minimum front yard
setbacks could be increased and rear yard setbacks reduced along the road.Mr. Terry said there is only one undeveloped
parcel in the O-LI District, so these suggestions would have minimal
effect.He said that there is an
existing approved plan for the undeveloped parcel which would allow
construction of about 73,000 SF of office space at 50% impervious; Mr. Terry’s
plan, at 65% impervious, proposes construction of about 80,000 SF of office
space.Mr. Ward added that some green
space along Newtown-Yardley Road would be lost as well.

PARKING STALL SIZES:Commission members generally favored
permitting smaller parking stalls in an overlay zone, which would be an
incentive for adaptive reuse of existing buildings, perhaps with some 10’ X 18’
stalls available to accommodate larger vehicles.Mr. Weaver suggested that striping between stalls is helpful to
discourage drivers from parking to close to each other.Mr. Sensibaugh commented that the Bucks
County Planning Commission was not in favor of smaller parking spaces because
cars have been getting larger in recent years.

INCREASED MAXIMUM
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE:Commission
members generally agreed that the proposed increase in the impervious surface
limit is not a stormwater management concern if developers are able to comply
with ordinance requirements.Mr. Walker
referred members to his 12/11/04 memo on stormwater management in the Commons.

RENTAL RATES AND
MARKETING STRATEGIES:Mr. Ward
asked what role current rental rates play in the problem of persistent
vacancies in the NBC.Mr. Terry said
the NBC has lost industrial tenants because tenants can find much lower rates
elsewhere.He said another major
problem for potential tenants of any kind is that the process of obtaining
conditional use approval and an occupancy permit is much more difficult and
time-consuming in the Township than it is in other municipalities.He said that more administrative discretion
should be given to the Fire Marshal and the Zoning Officer, which would
streamline the process considerably.

Mr. Harwood said that some uses should always be reviewed by
the Planning Commission to ensure that all aspects are considered.Mr. Mendicino objected to removing elected
and appointed officials from the review process.Mr. Ward said he would support increasing the number of uses by
right as long as the ordinance provides very specific controls.

PROPOSED CHANGES IN
PERMITTED USES:Commission members
began discussing the EDC’s proposed changes in uses listed in Mr. Pellegrino’s
11/13/03 memo to the Board of Supervisors.

·A1 - Agriculture and Horticulture:There were no objections to making this a
permitted use in both districts.

·C3 - Mr. Harwood said it will be important to
differentiate between a public or nonprofit school and a private school.

The Commission will finish their review of the proposed
changes in uses at their 1/20/04 meeting.

REPORT TO THE BOARD
OF SUPERVISORS:Mr. Ward outlined
how he will put together his report to the Board of Supervisors for
1/14/04.Mr. Wursta agreed to get a
memo to Mr. Ward summarizing the data and recommendations he presented
earlier.Mr. Ward said he heard most
Commission members supporting the idea that the Township should focus on encouraging
adaptive re-use of the existing buildings in the NBC, and that this might be
accomplished with an overlay district in which smaller parking stalls, more
impervious surface, and streamlined conditional use processes would be
available to owners and tenants of existing buildings.Mr. Ward suggested that a work session
involving members of the Planning Commission, the EDC, and the Board of
Supervisors could be helpful in determining what zoning changes should be made
in the NBC area.

Mr. Dieterle asked what should be said about the undeveloped
parcels in the NBC.Mr. Ward said those
parcels can be developed under the terms of the existing ordinance.He added that he will not make any specific
recommendations regarding the amount by which impervious surface limits should
be raised in the proposed overlay zone.

ADJOURNMENT:Without objections, the meeting was
adjourned at 10:25 PM.